Half Week Hardcore

This features all bands from the At Both Ends package I reviewed yesterday.

Bane - Struck Down By Me (This is a different recording than the new ep)


Grade - Triumph & Tragedy


Unrestrained - World Breaker (Suprisingly, this is the best sounding video I could find)


Between Earth And Sky - Studio Sessions (The first clip is from Skin and Stone)

At Both Ends: Final Issue Review

Initially I thought I would review every aspect of this double issue magazine. I was going to give my opinions of all the articles and interviews. After going through the magazine a number of times, I've decided if I did that 1) That would be a fucking long review and 2) It wouldn't leave a lot of the content open for those of you who haven't read it. So what I've decided to do is highlight the unique articles that appeal to me. Please note: I'm not a writer, don't expect any wordy descriptions or proper writing styles, these are just my personal opinions and thoughts. You'll also notice that I may refer to this as a magazine and not a zine, that's because based on it's size and pure quality I feel that it is pretty much a magazine.

ARTICLES
Bane Tour Diary
This piece was interesting to me because I'm a big Bane fan and also because I've always wanted to be in a band on tour. Basically the article covers a South American Bane tour from the perspective of a merch guy/roadie. The best part of the article is that we get an understanding of how the fans are in each of these countries. They're all unique in their own way. In particular, the insanity at the merch table in Chile.

Black And White And Read All Over
What we have here is basically a round table discussion on punk/hardcore zines and their relevance in today's wired(or actually wireless) culture. We get points of view from 4 different zine editors, from Las Vegas, Amsterdam, New York and Germany. I liked this article because I've also wondered a lot of the questions asked to myself. It's nice to get opinions on these issues from the people directly involved.

Remastering For Vinyl
This is a must read for anyone that enjoys or collects vinyl. It's an interview with Dave Eck on what it takes to master audio for a vinyl pressing.

Cryptozology NW
I'm really into horror movies and monsters and things of that nature, so I found it really cool that in this magazine there's kind of a directory for NW urban monster myths. It features background information on Bigfoot, Ogopogo, Cadborosaurus Willsi, The Batsquatch and The Zinesterosaurus. If you've ever wondered how these legends came to be, you'll find it in here.

The Great White North
This isn't really an article, just a map with information on all of Canada's major cities. There's a lot of facts in there that I had no idea about, so I'm sure for anyone in the US or overseas this would be a really interesting read. My favorite note is obviously the one for Saskatoon, you'll know why if you read it, but I've covered it on this blog before.

The last article we're left with is a history of At Both Ends, tools of the trade and advice sections. The history section gives an in depth look at not only how each issue was produced but some of the personal challenges Stephen faced when creating each one. And of course the tools section discusses certain tools used to create At Both Ends and the advice section offers some helpful tips to anyone wishing to try their hand at creating a zine.

Those aren't all of the features in the magazine, just the ones I found most interesting. There's lots more that deserve a read, I'm just not going to give away everything found in this magazine.

INTERVIEWS
The amount of interviews and their content is just too much for me to cover. Instead, I'll simply list all of the people interviewed in hopes that some of you may be interested enough to grab a copy for yourselves. Shook Ones, Bill Stevenson, Excursion Records, To Kill, Sainte Catherines, Verse, A Perfect Murder, Sick Of It All, Shai Hulud, Brian Clement, Anchor, Wait In Vain, Greg Bennick. There's also content featuring Brand New Unit and Sparkmarker.

REVIEWS
The reviews are one of my favorite things about this magazine. Stephen is brutally honest in his review of over 12 pages worth of full length albums, demos, splits, ep's and videos.

Some out there hate to face it that their project may get a negative review; welcome to reality. I'll be the first to admit that there were a lot of negative reviews in At Both Ends, I don't like a lot of what was sent in. Deal with the fact that not everyone enjoys something you've produced.

While I agree with some of the reviews and disagree with others, I find it refreshing to read short honest reviews. The number of reviews is incredible, I won't even start to go into specific albums, just know that there are a lot.

THE EP'S
There's no doubt that the records included in this final issue of At Both Ends are a big reason for anyone to purchase it. On one you have the newest recorded material from Bane since their anniversary ep cd I believe. The newest material from Grade since 2001. The other features 2 newer bands, Unrestrained and Between Earth And Sky. It should also be noted that these songs are exclusive to this release and won't be available anywhere else.

Bane - Non-Negotiable/Struck Down By Me (re-recorded)
Non-Negotiable is instantly a new favorite Bane song. It starts out hard and fast and keeps going until just before the end where it slows down and plays perfectly into the intro for Struck Down By Me. What I like most about about Struck Down By Me is the lyrics; questioning every aspect of christian faith and being unapologetic about it.

Grade - These Eyes Are On The Exit/Optical Portions
I'll admit I hadn't really been into Grade until a little over a year ago. That doesn't change the fact that I was really excited to hear some new material from them. Both of the songs are awesome and pick up pretty much where Headfirst Straight To Hell left off. For some reason I like These Eyes Are On The Exit a little more. I really hope Grade continues to write and make more music, these songs are proof that they're still quite good at it.

Unrestrained - Immaculate Deception/Anak Krakatau
Unrestrained comes out hard with a very metal influenced style of hardcore and a singer with a unique and powerful voice. These guys know how do do heavy, fast hardcore, and they do it very well.

Between Earth And Sky - Skin And Stone/Flow
These are definitely the most interesting songs in this release. I've never heard of Between Earth And Sky before this, which is a shame because I really like these guys. It's ironic because I usually don't like talking in songs, but their singer has an excellent narrative voice, not to mention singing voice. The lyrics on both songs are very poetic, especially on Flow. They have a great ability to convey the despair and darkness from their lyrics into the songs themselves. Needless to say, I'm quite excited to hear a lot more from them

At Both Ends: Final Issue

All of the following information can also be found at the At Both Ends website.

Here it is. At Both Ends hardcore magazine is going out with style. After six years of documenting the hardcore world a final issue package has been released that includes a 148-page perfect bound book/magazine along with a double 7” featuring new, exclusive songs from Bane, Grade (yes, Grade!), Unrestrained (ex-Pulling Teeth/Desperate Measures) and Between Earth And Sky (ex-Trial, Catharsis, Strain). The whole package weighs in at about 1.5lbs or 650g. It’s a doozy! The package will start shipping in late November as one 7” is still at the plant.

Included is one 148-page magazine/book that compiles two new issues worth of At Both Ends Magazine and two 7” records with songs from Bane, Grade, Unrestrained (Portland, Oregon) and Between Earth And Sky. Included in the magazine are articles and interviews with Bane, Sick of it All, Verse, Shook Ones, Bill Stevenson, Sparkmarker, Anchor, Shai Hulud, Greg Bennick, Devotion, Wait In Vain, To Kill and a bunch more stuff. This is about as packed as a zine can get. The magazine is perfect bound with glossy pages and colour covers. Printing is similar to a book and is higher quality than pretty much any commercial magazine you would find in a store.

-Track listing for the records:
Bane: Non-Negotiable / Struck Down By Me (re-recorded).
Grade: These Eyes Are On The Exits / Optical Portions.
Unrestrained: Immaculate Deception / Anak Krakatau.
Between Earth And Sky: Skin And Stone / Flow.

-Are these the same Bane songs as on the other 7”s they are putting out?
These songs are exclusive to this release. The Bane songs are not found on any of the other 7”s they are releasing.

-Where do I buy this?
Go to AtBothEndsmagazine.com and follow the instructions. Each package costs $13 USD plus shipping. There is a shipping chart to assist you in determining your total cost. If you don’t have Paypal then please email info@atbothendsmagazine.com to work out payment.

-Can I get just the records?
No.

-What colours are the records?
Order and find out. If you order three copies you will get all the colours pressed.

-What about wholesale for stores and distros?
Please contact info@atbothendsmagazine.com for rates.


There’s already a review of this from Hanging Hex blog:
Well, someone certainly has set the bar higher. I guess if you’re going to go out do it in a way that’s going to make everyone else attempting to publish something in print basically give up. The last two issues of At Both Ends (combined as one gigantic 150+ page zine), a long-running zine based out of Vancouver, really went all out here. This thing looks great (and features the ever hairy Timm Trust of The Helm on the cover!) and features butt loads of content. The interviews are pretty good and drill Verse, Sick Of It All, Shook Ones, Wait In Vain, To Kill, Shai Hulud, Greg Bennick, Anchor, and Dave Larson, among others. To me, the strong suit for this zine has always been all the other content- an exhaustive tour diary of Bane in South America, a retrospective on Sparkmarker and Brand New Unit, a roundtable zine discussion, random tales from various punkers about their favorite places to travel, the process of vinyl mastering, Canadian geography, cryptozoology, science fiction, indie filmmaking, and the city of Tacoma. Pretty random, but completely entertaining. Weak spots are the reviews as they are mostly brief and kind of dated. Otherwise, Steve has laid down an excellent final issue. Oh, did I mention this comes with a double 7” featuring new stuff from Bane, Grade (yeah... Grade), Unrestrained, and Between Earth and Sky? Crazy!

Please visit www.AtBothEndsMagazine.com or email info@AtBothEndsMagazine.com for more information. Thanks a lot!

Half Week Hardcore

This week I'm going to spotlight one of my favorite new websites. Hate5six.com Features live shows from a lot of really good hardcore and metal bands. The best thing about them is the video and sound quality. Unmatched by any video you'd find on youtube by a regular fan. The amount of time it would take to run a site like this is enormous and the fact that it's all free is just that much more incredible. The site runs on donations, so please give if you can.

Bane - Count Me Out & Swan Song (Swan Song is my favorite Bane song)

Bane - Count Me Out + Swan Song from hate5six productions on Vimeo.

Pulling Teeth - Stone Throwers & Bloodwolves

Pulling Teeth - Stone Throwers + Bloodwolves from hate5six productions on Vimeo.

The Hope Conspiracy - Hang Your Cross

The Hope Conspiracy - Hang Your Cross from hate5six productions on Vimeo.